The Long Drive Home
by rottenwriter83
Summary: Rose tries to imagine Doctor.2 in a "normal" existence. *normal disclaimers apply


**The Long Drive Home**

**Pete came to pick them up in the family van. There had been a great argument between Jackie and Pete over the purchase of this vehicle. Jackie said that vans were for old women who spent most of their time in carpool lanes and watching their brats play futbol. Pete argued that it was the safest way to travel with a baby. Uncharacteristically, Pete had won. They bought a brand new mini van in bright red - Jackie picked out the color. When Pete pulled onto the sand baby Tony was strapped into the backseat, screaming his poor little head off. Jackie immediately went into mothering-mode, soothing and coaxing and smothering the child to her breast, meanwhile hollering at her husband blaming him for the baby's tantrum. **

**Rose stood off to the side watching the argument unfold like a fast moving storm. She sighed with apprehension, "Was this a glimpse into things to come?" She wondered silently. "Could 'John Smith' and herself take on the roles of the bickering married couple? John Smith..." she pondered, "that was going to take some getting used to." **

**"Come and say hello!" Jackie called out. **

**Doctor.2 and Rose reached the van at the same time. Tony was still blubbering.**

**"Well that's just rude." Doctor.2 exclaimed.**

**"What I do?" Jackie asked confused.**

**"No not you."**

**"Pete?" She asked, then called over her shoulder, "Pete, what you do?"**

**"No, no no!" The Doctor intervened before another argument could begin. "Not Pete, or you or Rose."**

**"Then Who?" Jackie spun full round looking for someone else.**

**"Tony!" Doctor.2 said in exasperation.**

**The three adult Tylers stared at him. Jackie and Pete had mouths open like codfish but Rose felt a smirk creep across her face. **

**"You speak baby." It wasn't a question, just a realization she spoke aloud. **

**"Of course." Doctor.2 answered, almost offended that anyone would presume otherwise.**

**"What do you mean, you speak baby?" Jackie demanded to know. **

**"Am I still speaking baby?" Doctor.2 asked comically, "Read my lips Blondie, I SPEAK BABY!"**

**"You mean you understand OUR baby?" Pete asked from behind his wife.**

**"Of course!" He rolled his eyes,"Their a bit denser than usual today, aren't they big guy?" This last bit was said to Tony. To which Tony answered, "OOOleebee."**

**"Oh yes, definitely."**

**"What did he say?" Rose asked with her arms crossed in front of her. She had every confidence he understood her tiny brother but she still found this whole conversation very entertaining.**

**"Nosie Parker1" Doctor.2 retorted at her, and that was all she got out of him.**

**After they all piled back into the van and both Doctor.2 and Tony were strapped into the backseat Jackie spent the first hour of their drive asking all kinds of questions. She wanted to know what Tony's favorite colors were and his favorite foods and why he always woke her up at half past two in the morning. Rose sat silently, watching the exchange. After a while she breathed out a sigh of relief. She and Doctor.2 would never turn into the bickering couple like her mom and dad. She was sure they would have occasion to argue, they did plenty of that on the TARDIS. But they would never be typical because Doctor.2 would always be himself. **

**But still... there would be no more exotic adventures to strange planets and different times in their beloved TARDIS. Would he be happy here on this Earth with her? Would he be happy here in this limited existence? Would he always be wishing he was in some other place, in some other time? **

**Rose longed to make him her own. That's what she'd always wanted. Since the first moment he'd taken her hand in that dark basement. Since the first time they'd ran... she'd have run with him forever. **

**In the years since she'd met him she only thought of the moment they were in, there didn't seem to be anything else to think about. She never knew what the next moment would bring. She loved it! But she knew there were certain things she wasn't allowing herself to consider. There were unspoken rules inside the TARDIS. She knew, almost immediately, that for their friendship to grow into something more romantic was impossible. It's true they had snuck a few kisses here and there. The only good thing to come of having Cassandra in her head was the kiss it allowed her to plant on him. Before that there had been the kiss that saved her life, the kiss that had changed his face. She had said she didn't remember it, but how could she really forget it? It always felt like he didn't want her to remember it, as if it was the only secret she and that Doctor had , her first Doctor. **

**She really didn't think of them as two different people. She did at first - but not any more, not for a long, long time. It wasn't the face she loved anyway, although the face certainly wasn't something she objected to. It was the way he was, the way he attacked an adventure. The way he fought for the innocent and dealt out a guilty sentence. It was terrifying1 And so inspiring. But it was the quiet moments she loved the Doctor the most. In a moment when it was just the two of them, a rare moment when they weren't running or in peril. Laying on a field of applegrass or walking in the snow on Christmas Eve with Mr. Dickens. Those were her happiest moments. It was in those moments when she allowed herself to remember that of all the creatures and humans bumbling through the cosmos, he chose to be with her. **

**That was as far as she allowed to reverie to go. She wouldn't allow herself to consider all the things she couldn't have. All the things she had to give up in order to stay with him as long as she wanted. She knew that was why she kept ahold on Mickey for as long as she did. She kept stringing him along, poor guy, because she knew she couldn't have The Doctor forever. She knew it was wrong. She knew Mickey deserved so much more than her meaningless kisses and empty caresses. When she was stranded with him on this other Earth he tried to her kindle the flame that had once been between them. But it was no use. She knew she needed The Doctor, or no one. In the end it was he that helped her find the tears through The Void. She shook her head remembering, he really did deserve so much better. **

**Would she be able to have her dream now? Was this her chance to have more quiet moments than dangerous adventure with The Doctor? Could she allow herself to consider a future with marriage and family - with him? Could that possibly make him happy? She just didn't know.**

**Doctor.2 was watching an array of emotions pass over Rose's face. He'd give almost anything to know what she was thinking.**


End file.
